Schwarzenegger is back as the Terminator

CB Droege, 10th June 2012

The aging action-star-turned-governor-turned action-star Arnold Schwarzenegger has announced that he will be reprising the role of the futuristic assassin-bot in at least one more film.

Seemingly in an attempt to make up for the time he lost as Governor of California, Schwarzenegger has been accepting enough film roles to keep him perpetually busy. He’s finished several projects already, including The Expendables 2, which hits theaters this summer. Currently, he’s working on a science fiction thriller, Unknown Soldier and is slated to move directly into production on the police thriller, Ten.

After that? Schwarzenegger has signed on to take a role in the next film in the Terminator franchise. In addition, he was recently able to reveal some mild plot details. No spoilers in this mix, just info about how the film will relate to the series. The most important thing to know is that T5 will not be a reboot, and T4 is not being stricken from canon.

"I can't say too much," Schwarzenegger said in a recent interview. "They want it held in secret, if you know what I mean, but I will say that next year I will start filming it and it's going to be one of the hardest films I have ever done I can tell you that already for sure ... they have six months set aside just for filming, so I will be training and getting into the best physical shape I possibly can before filming starts.

"It does follow Salvation,” he continued, refering to the fourth Terminator film, which was poorly received by critics and the box office, "although some of the producers and franchise owners were not too happy about the job McG did with it, but they felt it was good enough to continue on, and they want the fifth and sixth installments to be the closing of the franchise."

Though it is not in development yet, Schwarzenegger is also signed on for that sixth Terminator film.

Terminator 5 - no subtitle has yet been announced - has been in development for many years with director Justin Lin attached, but everytime they want to start, Lin gets pulled away by another Fast and Furious film. Since Fast 6 is going to be entering production about the same time as Terminator 5, it’s unlikely that he will be able to participate, though the studio has not announced a replacement director.

Production on the film is expected to begin next spring. No release date has been announced, but I would expect it sometime in the summer blockbuster season of 2014.